The Importance of Family
by astheblackrosewilts
Summary: Heero will hold out against any torture right? Well what happens when they threaten his daughter? No original characters, 13x1, 2x5, 3x4, father daughter relationship between Heero and Mariemaia.
1. Chapter 1 of 3

AN I know this is yet another fic but I got bitten by a plot bunny – looks mournfully down at the creature still gnawing on her leg – tell me if you want me to continue. 

Summary: Heero will hold out against any torture right? Well what happens when they threaten his daughter? No original characters, 13x1, 2x5, 3x4, Father/Daughter Heero/Mariemaia.

Rating: PG?

Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing them, I'll put them back, honestly!

**Title Needed**

Heero looked up, eyes automatically adjusting as the light flooded his small cell a young man with a gun pointed at him entered the room slowly, two more followed him both wielding weapons. Heero checked them automatically, the safety was off, all three weapons could be fired with a split seconds notice, it was possible that he could eliminate one, maybe two at this distance but all three would be beyond even him.

He watched with growing unease as the first guard, obviously the ring leader smirked confidently, he wasn't bluffing, Heero could tell he wasn't bluffing, he knew what a bluff looked like. "You'll talk to us this time, wont you 01?"

"If you honestly think that threatening me will…"

"This threat will work." He snapped his fingers and two more guards entered, they were dragging with them a small girl. She lifted her head and gave him a shaky smile despite the bust lip. Her eyes showed fear though, a desperate plea to him to get her out of here. "I trust you two know each other."

Yes, yes he knew her. She was one of the few people who had ever managed to get under his skin, she had been calling him 'daddy' almost since she had discovered his relationship with her father. He was looking into the scared blue eyes of Mariemaia Khushrenada and she was begging him to save her.

With a quick nod from the leader, the guard who had been twisting her arms behind her back to the point of breaking them let her go, she barrelled across the room and into Heero, he wrapped his arms round her as best he could, considering the restraints.

"I see you do know each other, bit young to have a child that old aren't you? Anyway 01 here's the deal, you have two choices. You can chose the first option and refuse to talk, if that happens then you know that you've just sentenced your daughter to pain beyond that of which you've never felt before. You'll get to watch of course and we'll see if you're a bit more receptive to our questions after seeing her tortured to death."

"And if I talk?"

"Then you save her from torture and rape, after you tell us everything you know about the rebels, you can kill her yourself, as painlessly as you can manage. You have twelve hours to decide and say goodbye to your daughter, Use them wisely."

"And what's to stop me killing her now and then refusing to talk?"

"Because like it or not you _are_ human and one of the key feelings a human can experience is hope, you have rescued your friends before and they have rescued you, what if you kill her and then you get saved? I'm surprised that as a father you even needed me to answer that question. I'll see you in twelve hours, until then."

Heero watched as the man leered unpleasantly and he felt the sudden urge to rip the bastard's throat out, he may have acted on the desire if it were not for the small body that was trembling against his, reminding him that it wasn't just his life anymore. 'How did they know?' He growled inwardly and, as if sensing his thoughts, a soft 'daddy?' reached his ears.

The guards smirked as he held her closer, it appeared that the legendary pilot had a heart after all. Then they left, leaving Heero in the dark clutching the shaking child close.

**End Chapter One**

AN Well, to continue or not to continue, that is the question… and I have been studying waaaaayyy too much Shakespeare. Please R&R


	2. Chapter 2 of 3

AN Sorry for the long wait but I hope it was worth it, I'm still looking for a title though. 

Summary: Heero will hold out against any torture right? Well what happens when they threaten his daughter? No original characters 13x1, 2x5, 3x4, Father/daughter, Heero/Mariemaia

Rating/Disclaimer see first chapter

**Title Needed**

**Part 2**

A thousand plans flew into and out of his mind as the door slammed shut and he found himself mentally sorting through them, dismissing them as he went. Too dangerous, impossible, too risky, something Maxwell would have come up with...

"Da-daddy..."

The soft whisper caught him by surprise, he'd never heard his little girl sound so vulnerable before, she was always happy, laughing and smiling, despite the little time they could spend with her. It would be over soon they had promised, it would be over and they could live with her and take care of her and the war wouldn't bother them again. She had nodded, said she understood but he and Treize had seen the look on her face the last time the three of them were together and they had both sworn in that moment that they were going to end this for her, that she would never have to live her life the way that theirs' had gone. It appeared that he had broken that promise.

"What is it angel?"

"We gonna die?" Eyes plaintively begged him for a reassurance he couldn't give.

What could he say? 'Yes' was out obviously but he couldn't promise anything and he was not going to lie to the one person on the planet he would risk everything for, not even Treize could attest to that, he loved him of course but this was _his_ baby.

"I don't know Marie." She was obviously looking for some kind of comfort as she kept looking at him, her split lip and bruised face a testament to how deeply he had failed her. "But I'm going to try and save us I'm just working out what to do."

Satisfied that if her daddy was working on it then it had to work out she nodded approvingly and patted him on the arm, "then it'll be ok, don't worry so much daddy, someone'll save us."

He had to turn away from the trusting look on Marie's face, what was he going to do?

Two guards turned from the scene they were watching on the screen, one smirked at the other.

"I told you. He's human and every human has a weakness."

The second didn't sound quite so smug though, "are you sure we shouldn't tell his Excellency?"

"I've already told you! Not until we've gotten a result, besides you know what he thinks about a child's place in the war, we get a result and just tell him that the pilot cracked, we do not tell him how we got it, he'd never approve."

The other nodded in agreement but still looked slightly reluctant, "and there's no way the tip off could be a trap?"

"No, if it was then there would be someone keeping an eye on him and he'd know about it, look at him, he's far too worried to be faking and if someone was watching then there's no way they'd have let us get away with what we are doing to him right now."

"He's right," both turned to look at the newcomer who was watching them warningly, "would you stop worrying."

"I just... it just doesn't seem right, using a child this way, I have a daughter about her age, I think I'd kill myself if I had his decision to make. Can't we try and make him talk without bringing her into it."

The other two exchanged glances, this was getting dangerous, if Treize found out about this little stunt then their life expectancy would drop to a few seconds... immediately, he just wouldn't understand that they were doing this all for him. Their colleague was becoming unexpectedly sympathetic to the pilot and his daughter, the danger that he might say something was becoming real. In hindsight they should never have chosen him to be the other third of the scheme, they'd had no choice, he'd found out and it would have caused too many questions if they'd killed him then. Not now though, they were the only ones in this part of the base, the only ones who knew that 01 was there, no one would be asking why the guard didn't show up for breakfast the next day.

Looking across the room he could see the other standing in the doorway and saw the look on his face as he reached a similar conclusion and, as one, they reached for their weapons and fired.

There was a thud as a body hit the floor and one nameless little girl lost her father. The game just became a lot more real.

"He's late." Duo stopped his pacing to pull a cigarette out of his pocket, a cigarette that was promptly lit and then, just as promptly, removed and stubbed out by the blonde pilot. "Hey!"

Quatre ignored the protest, "I know he's late Duo, we all know he's late but repeating it every five seconds and wearing a hole through the carpet is not going to make him walk through the door. We've talked to J, he said Heero emailed him and said it was going to take longer than he had originally thought to get the information."

"I don't trust him." Duo muttered darkly, "and you can't tell me you do Q." Rebelliously he lit another cigarette and inhaled slowly.

"No, no I don't," the blonde seemed to slump inwardly, "but what can we do, we don't even know where he is."

Pulling a face at the taste Duo stubbed out the cigarette himself this time. "Not _yet_ we don't," He grinned at the quizzical look that Quatre shot him, "what do you think Trowa and Wufei are doing? They'll find him soon, no OZ computer is a match for any gundam pilot."

"What if he hasn't been put into the computers?"

"Then we'll hack J's network, you can get access from Heero's laptop and I have an emergency limited access password." Duo sudden grin promised a world of hurt, "and if I find out that J's been lying to me then I'll rip him limb from limb... literally."

Treize sighed and abandoned the blank document he'd been working on for the better part of half an hour to turn on the television, quickly flicking through the channels searching for any mention of his lover or one of the other pilots.

Not finding anything he sighed again and poured himself a glass of the wine that was sitting on his desk, drinking it without registering the taste. He missed his lover, he missed his daughter and he couldn't think of anything he wanted more on the Earth right now than being able to see the two of them and hear his little girl and secret lover say the three words that meant more to him than any of the dreams he'd had when he was younger, 'I love you'.

Moving across to the window he looked out, half expecting to see a shooting star denoting one of the pilots' entry to Earth. Slowly he raised his glass to them before stepping back and drawing the curtains. God he hoped they were ok.

**End Part 2**

AN Well, lots of different scenes in that, now there are three places I could go with this, I could have Heero kill her, I could have them be saved or I could have OZ kill them both, each have potential and I have ideas for all of them so it's really up to you. Live or die?


	3. Chapter 3 of 3

Disclaimer/Summary/Rating – Please see first chapter.

**Title Needed**

**Chapter 3**

"Fucking bastard!" Duo hissed the words near silently but Quatre still shot him a death glare. The braided pilot shut up and they prepared to enter the building but Quatre knew he was still cursing him his head.

While this wasn't the time or place to do it though, Quatre certainly agreed with him. He still couldn't believe that, after everything, J had sold out his protégé.

Hell, he'd even sent these particular officers the chemical formula for a gas that Heero would still be susceptible to, even after all his training. There was also a comment regarding the perfect soldier's 'one weakness' but Quatre hadn't completely understood that one. Presumably it was linked to other information.

Why J had picked these officers he wasn't certain but he suspected it had something to do with their ruthlessness and willingness to do anything. Their fanatical devotion to the OZ cause and the place of assignment.

The base was currently inactive and only required five officers to maintain it. He doubted Heero realised that though.

Without saying a word or even signalling he and Duo made their way quietly into the base. Tuned into each other's bodies enough to understand when the other pilot was going to move and how they should move in relation. Making their way down the corridor, dodging the camera's with a practiced ease.

Duo ducked into a ventilation shaft and Quatre squirmed in behind him as a man made their way down the corridor. It would have been easy enough to kill them but right now they couldn't afford to attract any attention.

Deciding to make the best of their position Duo scrambled down one of the shafts and came out of the exit in another corridor. Quatre followed quickly and they moved towards Heero's cell.

* * *

Heero Yuy stroked the red hair gently as Mariemaia slept.

He knew that most of the people he'd met throughout his life would never believe him to be capable of such tenderness.

But hands that had snapped necks, wielded weapons and had the blood of thousands on them had also bandaged scraped knees, checked temperatures and soothed after nightmares.

But as much as he might want to remember he didn't have time for such thoughts.

There were guards outside his cell and his time was running short. They'd given him twelve hours to say goodbye and he couldn't see a way of escaping. Not without endangering Marie and that was unacceptable.

If he failed in an escape then they'd take her and do all the things they'd threatened.

Besides, if he succeeded in an escape where was he going to go. This base was extremely isolated and they'd announced over the intercom not long after leaving him with his thoughts and a terrified child that they'd found his gundam.

How would he even get off the base?

Cursing J who had insisted that the information had to be retrieved personally rather than via a computer link he shifted his rapidly numbing arm to try and stave off pins and needles.

No one knew he was here. There was no one coming.

He don't think he'd ever been this frightened in his entire life.

Mainly because he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that there was only one option. He could hand over the other pilots and take their word that if he did so they wouldn't harm her or kill her himself and save her the torture.

Chancing that they wouldn't do what they threatened wasn't an option.

Funny, he'd been fighting a war since he was eight years old but he'd never really understood the meaning of an impossible situation before now. Before it had always been talk or die and he'd never really had a problem with dying.

He could snap her neck, it would be painless, it would be quick…

He couldn't believe he was thinking this.

He was evil, he must be.

'Sorry,' he mouthed, not wanting to wake her.

Something would happen, something had to happen, he needed another option.

He'd never been an optimist but for the first time in his life he pushed down the unfamiliar sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and started to run through the scenarios again. Humming soothingly as Marie stirred.

* * *

Reaching the cell door and disposing of the two guards was simple enough, Quatre had his gun pointed and was watching cautiously as Duo hotwired the door.

The pain from his space heart was growing worse and he couldn't hide the wince.

Duo looked up quickly.

"You okay, 04?"

He nodded, refraining from closing his eyes against the force of the pain.

"It's from 01, get the damn door open."

Worried by the expletive from the usually mild-mannered blonde Duo returned to his work quickly.

Trowa's voice came over the comm. suddenly and they both jumped.

"04, I'm registering two heat signatures from 01's cell."

Quatre frowned in confusion and Duo, while he didn't stop working, hissed out a breath.

"What do you reckon we're gonna find in here then?" He murmured. "Perhaps that little 'one weakness' J was talking about."

Quatre shrugged, "I don't know 02, just get the door open." He shook his head. "There's something seriously wrong in this place. 03." Quatre spoke into his radio, "03 make sure to have the shuttle prepared to deliver medical aid." Duo looked at him. "Just a feeling," he muttered.

Suddenly Duo gave a short sound of triumph, "done! The electrical sound proofing has been neutralised, now I just need to blow it."

He hit the door three times, letting Heero know that he had to get away from it and then set the charges. Normally OZ doors didn't have soundproofing, let alone proofing using an electronic force field. Quatre was right, there was something odd about this place.

* * *

Heero's head shot up at hearing the bangs and instantly he jumped up, his daughter in his arms and backed as far as he could into the corner at the end of the cell.

"Daddy?" She sounded confused.

"Help's here," he whispered in her ear. "Just like you said. But there's gonna be a bang and I need you to block your ears for me okay?"

She nodded and clapped her little hands over her ears, scrunching her eyes shut.

Heero looked at her consideringly before putting her on the floor and telling her to curl up in the corner. Covering her ears with his hands he leant over her body, hoping to protect her from any flying shrapnel.

It was a good thing he did, as the door flew so did small chunks of metal which flew everywhere, slicing open his back.

Luckily his head was mostly covered as he ducked down and he could easily run with a few cuts and bruises.

Hell, he'd jumped off a cliff without a parachute and walked away, the fact that he was bleeding a little was nothing.

He pulled back when Duo entered the cell, weapon raised.

"Good to see you again 01." Duo's voice was jovial but Heero could tell he was relieved.

As he stepped away from the wall Marie poked her head out from where he'd been shielding her.

"Hi." She waved shyly.

Duo stared.

"02?" Quatre appeared round the door, "is everything…?" He trailed off as he caught sight of the little girl.

Suddenly Duo shook his head violently. "Right, we haven't got time for this. Introductions later, okay?"

"02 take point," Quatre ordered. "I'll watch our six, Heero you're in the middle, take the girl. 03's got the shuttle and we're scheduled to rendezvous very, very soon. 05's getting your gundam."

Heero stared at him. "You're all here?"

Duo rolled his eyes and disappeared out of the cell to check for guards and Quatre gave him an exasperated look. "You're in trouble 01, of course we're all here."

Heero looked confused but nodded and bent down to look Marie in the eyes, "I'm going to need you to be very quiet for me." To emphasise the point he put a finger over his lips. "Okay sweetheart?"

She nodded and he picked her up, Duo signalled that the cost was clear and the four took off down the corridor, Heero's covering Marie's eyes as he jumped over the body of the guard. The one who had threatened his family. Turning suddenly he gave it a vicious kick before continuing after Duo down the corridor.

* * *

"What they hell?" Trowa breathed as Marie was thrown into the shuttle.

"Never mind that now!" Quatre scrambled into the craft. "Just go!"

As Trowa started to move Wufei's voice came over the comm. "03?"

"They're back 05, even got ourselves an extra passenger."

Wufei cursed. "What? Never mind. Tell 01 I've got his gundam. I don't think she likes me very much."

Heero smiled slightly and bowed his head.

"Injuries?" Wufei asked.

Trowa looked at them, they were all standing and looked pain free but that really mean anything… even so… "Pretty much."

"Good, I took out two guards, how many did 04 and 02 get?"

"Two." He answered as Quatre held up two fingers.

"Great," Wufei's relief was audible even down a comm. channel. "Well, that's all five accounted for then." Heero looked up in shock. "I ran across one of the other guard's bodies, he'd been shot through the head, too old to be one of us."

Quatre shook his head, "what the hell happened on that base." Everyone looked at Heero when he spoke.

Heero looked at Marie and decided she didn't need to hear the threats again.

"I'll tell you later," he mumbled.

"Right then, base is cleared, everyone accounted for. 05 you know what to do."

Heero turned to the window in time to see the base explode, picking up his daughter, who wasn't tall enough to see out together they watched their living hell decimated.

"'Ro?" Heero turned to look at Duo. "You wanna explain," he gestured to the child, who was still watching the base burn in fascination."

Sighing Heero put her down and turned.

"Duo-"

"Daddy?" The horrified exclamation cut him off.

Duo's mouth dropped and Quatre choked. Even Trowa, usually so impassive, jerked the controls in his shock, causing the shuttle to dip.

"What?" he turned back to her quickly, "what's wrong, what is it."

"You're bleeding." She breathed.

He dropped to his knees, reassuringly. "It's just a scratch Marie."

She titled her chin, "That's what Mercurio said."

Heero looked at her in bewilderment. "Mercurio…? Oh, it's Mercutio Marie, and where in heaven did you hear that?"

"Papa said it, last time you were hurt. I didn't understand so nanny explained it to me." She sobbed suddenly. "Do you think they got her daddy? They got me when she was in the kitchen, do you think she's alright?"

He didn't answer, couldn't answer. "What happened."

She shook her head, gulping back a sob. "I don't know, they just came. I screamed but nobody came." She looked at him. "Daddy, why did nobody come."

Heero just looked at her. "Marie, the men in the cell, were the people who came and got you the men from the cell."

She nodded, "two of them and then another one I didn't see again."

Heero bowed his head and gave her a hug. "I'm not gonna see her again am I?" she asked.

He hesitated and shook his head.

"Will you try to find her Daddy?"

Heero nodded, "of course I will."

She nodded and then prodded him. "You're still bleeding Daddy."

Duo nodded his head. "We'll get this sorted later, come on Heero. We're got medical supplies ready in the back."

Heero shook his head, "I don't-"

Marie didn't say anything, she jut looked at him and Heero blinked.

"I'll look after her." Quatre placed a hand on her shoulder tentatively. Unwilling to move quickly in case the protective gundam pilot perceived a threat.

"Marie…"

"Daddy."

Heero nodded, "right then, I'm going to go with Duo, Trowa's flying and this is-"

She planted her hands on her hips, "daddy!"

"Right," as Heero left with to violet eyed pilot Quatre heard Duo mumble, 'I like this kid.'

Smiling he kneeled down and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Quatre, I'm a friend of your daddy's."

She gave a little curtsey with a giggle. "I'm Marie, I'm a daughter of my daddy's."

Quatre smiled, he liked this kid too.

* * *

"Heero." Duo started.

"I was going to kill her." He blurted.

Duo gaped at him. "What?"

"I was going to kill her." Heero was nearly hyperventilating and Duo started to quietly panic.

"What do you mean?"

"They said," he took a deep breath. "They said that if I talked they'd kill her quickly but if I didn't they'd toryture and rape her till she died and then see if I was willing to talk then." Duo had the sudden urge to go back to the base and kill them again.

Heero continued. "I couldn't talk, we were both dead and they'd have just tortured her after anyway." He sucked in a breath, "I was going to kill her, make it quick, just snap her neck… I would have killed her and you came, I would have killed her. There were five soldiers on base and one of them was dead and I could have killed her-"

"But you didn't." Duo broke in pointedly.

"But I-"

"But you didn't." Duo said, firmly. "And you didn't consider it for more than a few seconds did you. You were trying to stop your daughter being raped and tortured Heero."

"I'm evil, what kind of person thinks about killing their child?"

"The kind of person who has no other choice." Duo looked at him, "what do you think she would have preferred you do?"

As if on cue, Marie's laughter filtered through from the other section of the shuttle.

"She's too young." Heero shook his head. "She-"

Duo interrupted him, "What do you think-"

"I know!" Heero snapped, "I know, I just… I can't believe I even…" he crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "I swore I'd protect her Duo."

"Yeah?" The braided pilot cocked his head. "Well, from here it looks like that was exactly what you were doing." He tapped Heero on the shoulder, "come on then, shirt off."

* * *

Quatre was listening interestedly as Marie talked about her parents.

"Daddy makes papa happy when he works too hard." She lowered her voice conspiritally and Quatre leant forwards expectantly. "Daddy says papa always works too hard."

Suddenly Quatre looked up nodded as he caught sight of Heero and Duo in the doorway, Heero's wounds now cleaned and bandaged. Much to his amusement Heero had his eyes shut and Duo was watching him, eyebrows arched, he wondered how long they'd been there

"Daddy gives me cuddles and plays with me." Her eyes were bright as she continued. "And he makes it better when I have a nightmare." She frowned, "sometimes I have to make it better when he has a nightmare too but he won't tell me what they're about. I think he tells papa though."

Heero buried his face in his hands and Quatre chuckled, "well that's very good Marie. I'm glad he tells someone about his nightmares, we all have them…" He finished, a rueful tone to his voice.

Heero looked at him and Quatre smiled.

"Daddy!" Marie had turned round suddenly and caught sight of him, scrabbling to her feet and running over she wrapped her hands round his waist and hugged him tightly. "We gonna see papa now?" She demanded.

Heero looked up, alarmed. Quatre gave him an easy smile.

"Oh, Marie's been telling me all about her papa," he chuckled, "except for what he's called, for some reason she's not allowed to tell me that. I must say though Heero, he sounds like he's been good for you."

"Yeah." Heero smiled weakly.

"We gonna call him?" Marie sounded sleepy.

Heero hesitated, "maybe later."

"Okay." She mumbled, "tired."

"Sleep then, I'll wake you when we arrive… where are we going?"

"One of Q's places." Duo answered.

"When we arrive at Quatre's house."

"Night," she murmured, settling as Heero laid her down on the couch at the back of the shuttle.

"Night." Quatre whispered and Duo waved.

"Right then," the braided pilot turned to Heero. "Let's get down to business."

* * *

Heero's face was white with anger, "I'm going to kill him."

"Heero." Duo held up his hands.

"No, he sold me out and he used my daughter to do it." Heero shook his head. "I'm going to find out how he found out about her and then I am going to torture him until he's begging for death. Then I'm going to take him to…" He hesitated, "then I'm going to take him to my lover and let him have some fun. No one threatens my family."

Quatre and Duo exchanged glances and Quatre nodded, "Alright. Now, who are you sleeping with?"

"You don't need to know that Quatre."

"Heero." Duo started but was cut off by Trowa from the cockpit.

"Quatre, Duo Heero doesn't want us to know we won't."

"If it was different I'd tell you." Heero offered.

"Yeah," Quatre smiled. "We know."

"So," Duo folded his hands. "Tell us about her then."

"Well she's his daughter."

"Biologically anyway." Duo murmured, nodding at something behind Heero. "She obviously considers herself your daughter too."

Heero turned to look at the little girl who was walking towards him, rubbing her eyes. Clambering onto his lap she tilted her head against his shoulder and shut her eyes.

Happy, she let out a satisfied sigh.

"I take it there's a reason for that," Duo grinned.

Heero smiled, "I love her and I love him."

Duo shot a look at Quatre and shrugged. "Good enough for me."

* * *

A few hours later and Heero was locked in a bedroom in one of Quatre's estates. He'd spent over half an hour while Marie played with the other pilots making sure his call couldn't be traced and then fifteen minutes bouncing the signal off various satellites.

And all for this moment.

"Pick up," Heero murmured under his breath. "Come on Treize pick-"

"Hello?"

"Hi."

"Heero?" Treize sounded panic stricken. "Heero, the flat, I called Marie and-"

Marie stood on her tiptoes to look into the vidphone. "Hi papa!"

Treize's look turned to shock and mind numbing relief. "Marie? Oh thank god. Are you okay sweetheart?"

"I am now," she smiled, "daddy's friends rescued us."

Treize's smile grew incredulous. "Excuse me?"

Heero rubbed the bridge of his nose. "J found out about her, sent her location to a select few of your officers and they decided to use her to see if they could get me to talk. The other pilots hacked his email when I was late back from the mission and got us out."

"And you're okay? Both of you, you're okay?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you," Treize whispered, "Thank you God, thank you. How did he find her?"

Heero's eyes were dark, "I don't know… yet."

"And the officers?"

"Taken care of."

"Did they know she was mine?"

Heero watched him carefully. "No, they were doing it for you, the base wasn't in use apparently, nobody knew."

Treize shook his head, he looked sick. "She's in too much danger like this, we can't… I'm going to fix this, fix it so she doesn't have anything else to worry about." Heero was smiling at him affectionately. "I promise."

Heero gently brushed the screen with his hand. "Miss you."

"I miss you too. Marie," he turned to his daughter. "Are you sure you're alright?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Uncle Duo says he's going to take me out in Deathscythe tomorrow and Uncle Quatre has twenty nine sister, he says I can play with all their toys…"

She ran away suddenly and came back with a doll, it had red hair and blue eyes. "Look!" She held it out proudly, "it's me."

Treize laughed "I can see that."

"Uncle Quatre says I can take it home!"

"Uncle Quatre said that did he?" Treize asked, watching Heero with interest.

Heero shrugged sheepishly.

"Yep." Marie babbled "and Uncle Trowa's going to teach me how to play the flute and Uncle Quatre's going to teach me to play the piano and Uncle Wufei's been telling me stories. Did you know he was a dragon?"

Treize shook his head wordlessly. Marie's eyes widened suddenly and she clapped her hands to her mouth. Both Heero and Treize smothered smiles at the oddly adult gesture by the young girl. "I forgot, I'm supposed to be helping Uncle Quatre's friend Rashid in the kitchen. Bye papa." She kissed the screen and ran off."

Heero watched her go.

"My daughter." Treize started, "my daughter has the gundam pilots for uncles doesn't she?"

Heero looked at him helplessly.

Treize nodded slowly, "I see." He clapped his hands suddenly. "Right then, I guess that leaves me no choice."

Heero looked worried, "what do you mean?"

"Well," Treize laughed suddenly, "I understand that it's historically traditional for aristocrats to try and kill their families but I'm not really too fond of that type of tradition."

Heero closed his eyes for a long second, "what do you mean?"

"Heero." Treize's face was serious. "That base you were in wasn't in use because I've been closing them down. That's why you've been getting fewer missions lately. I didn't want to tell you until I was sure it could be done."

"That's the reason there's been fewer attacks." Heero whispered. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"My control over Romefellar is tenuous at best." Treize shook his head. "I had to make sure I could do it first."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Thank you."

Treize wet his lips; his face was lit up by his smile. "Hey, what are families for?"

Heero laughed still stunned. "I bet most people don't give their families world peace for a present."

"Yeah," Treize was staring at him intently. "But you're special, you've always been special and you deserve to enjoy every second. All of us, together, you, me and Marie, from now on."

Heero gave a weak but sincere smile and swallowed, "I'd like that."

Suddenly Treize turned around and snapped at someone Heero couldn't see. "Well he's going to have to wait."

"Treize."

"Yeah."

"Go to your meeting."

"But."

"Treize."

"Yeah, okay." Treize ran a tired hand through his hair. "Bye Heero."

"I'll see you later," Heero corrected gently and Treize smiled again.

"Of course, see you later…"

Fin

AN Finished and it took forever. But I quite enjoyed writing this chapter, even though sometimes it just kept going. Hopefully the end isn't too short but this was never supposed to be an epic novel length.


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